Piracy problem The U.S. envoy to Tanzania urged African nations to prosecute Somali pirates apprehended in the Indian Ocean as a way of tackling the continents growing piracy problem.Right now, Kenya and Seychelles are the only two countries in Africa that are prosecuting pirates, said U.S. Ambassador Alfonso Lenhardt. More countries need to come forward. Thats how to stop it.The coast off Somalia is among the worlds most dangerous for merchant shipping. The number of attacks worldwide jumped by 40 percent last year, with gunmen from the failed Horn of Africa state accounting for more than half the 406 reported incidents.The issue of jurisdiction to prosecute cropped up after a U.S. Navy warship prevented an attack on a ship flying the Tanzanian flag last month and apprehended eight suspects.He said the ship saved by U.S. forces was actually a North Korean vessel flying the flag of the east African nation and the United States now was deciding who might prosecute the suspects.The law allows some prosecution only when Tanzanian citizens or Tanzanian ships are attacked, Lenhardt told a news conference. The Tanzanian government has to decide what it wants to do and how it is going to deal with this...

Join Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Reduction Program ClassNK Chairman and President Noboru Ueda announced to the press today that ClassNK will commit 2.2 billion yen (US$25 million) in research and funding as part of its participation in a national joint R&D program to reduce maritime greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. ClassNKs commitment will cover more than 25% of the projects total budget of 8.5 billion yen (US$95 million) through 2012. The announcement was made at a press conference today where Mr. Ueda outlined the classification societys objectives for 2010.During the conference, Mr. Ueda, who will become the Chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) this July, stated that, Classification societies must take a leading role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. He continued by saying, Our commitment as an industry must go beyond merely helping to establish goals for reducing maritime emissions. We must actively contribute to developing, funding, and promoting concrete, practical technologies to make the achievement of these goals a reality. The commitment we are making today is an important step in that process.The R&D program is part of a national effort to reduce GHG emissions established by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT) last...

Security lapses in the region Are the unregulated Flag Of Convenience (FOC) to blame for security lapses in the region? This is the question many maritime experts are asking. According to seamen in Mombasa, FOC vessels flying Kenyan, Tanzanian and Zanzibar flags had increased tremendously in the regions Indian Ocean territorial waters in the recent past. An investigation revealed that most of these vessels fish illegally or transport suspicious cargo.The investigation was conducted after it emerged that a Tanzanian oil tanker, which was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden a fortnight ago, was sailing under a Panama flag. It was later discovered that the owners are Cambodian based and its port of registry is Phnom Penh.According to experts, the unregulated FOCs fuel illegal activities such as arms smuggling, money laundering and trafficking in goods and people.A seafarer who sought anonymity admitted to having worked on one such vessels in August 2008. It was a Zanzibar flagged ship whose call sign and the IMO number were questionable, but it was allowed to sail in and out of Mombasa port, to Mtwara enroute to Madagascar, he said.The irony is that Kenyas maritime experts have been pushing for the inclusion of...

The cost for shipping firms is over $100m annually Piracy off the coast of Somalia is costing the international shipping industry at least $100 million a year, a new report states. Aside from payments in ransom estimated at about $110 million over the past two years there have also been increased transportation and insurance costs, as well as costs related to protecting ships.The report from the World Peace Foundation noted that piracy was now big business with an estimated 1,500 buccaneers off the coast of Somalia involved in seven syndicates. The business is co-ordinated by a few bosses operating mainly from Kenya, Dubai and Lebanon. The report predicts that acts of piracy will escalate unless urgent action is taken.It proposes, for instance, providing pirates with economic incentives. Shipping union officials in the West have also urged ship owners to ensure their vessels travel in convoys under naval protection particularly in the Gulf of Aden where the vast majority of attacks occur on solitary vessels.A senior Nautilus official said merchant ships that abided by the naval task force recommendations to travel as group transits, remained safe. The problem is, some ship owners arent prepared to wait for the task force. They...

Security problems reveal Maritime Authority report criticises safety system on board Danish shippers massive oil processing tanker. A raging fire that resulted from a gas compressor explosion aboard Maersk-owned oil tanker Ngujima-Yin in spring 2009 could have been quickly brought under control had the ships security precautions been in place, according to a report released yesterday by the Danish Maritime Authority.The incident report, compiled by the authoritys accident investigation department, cited numerous safety violations aboard the 333-metre long ship primarily due to inoperative or faulty equipment. The Ngujima-Yin operates off Australias northwestern coast and is the largest floating production storage and offloading ship in Australian waters.Among the problems cited in the report were three fire-extinguishing devices that were not properly maintained and an alarm-triggered surveillance system that did not function. The latter problem made it difficult for the crew to determine where the compression burst had originated.The report added that the faulty equipment on the ship has made the crew lose its confidence that the Maersk Ngujima-Yin is a safe place to work.Maersk disagrees with much of the authoritys claims and has let the authority know about its dissatisfaction with the report.The Ngujima-Yin was repaired and out on the water...

Prosecution of fine The Port of Trieste has advised that, with effect from 3 March 2010, vessels using fuels with a sulphur content exceeding 0.10% by mass (in contravention of EU Directive 2005/33/EC) will be prosecuted with fine of between Euros 15,000 and 150,000 (usually 30,000 for the first offence). Exemption to the law will not be granted anymore and all eventual special authorisations issued in the past are cancelled, it states.This means that ship and port safety may be sacrificed purely in order to generate local harbour funds.Trieste Port does go on to say that a reduction of the fine may be requested according to the European Recommendation (2009/1020/EU of 21.12.2009) within 30 days from the notification of fine, showing evidence of steps taken by ship operator, class and boiler manufacturer to complete the work enabling the vessel to burn fuel according to the EU Directive. However once a fine reduction application has been submitted, Trieste Port points out that the supporting documents are subject to evaluation by the officer on duty; if this evidence is considered insufficient to merit a reduction of the fine to the minimum, then the fine could rise to the maximum set by law...

Enhance maritime security The managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Abdulsalam Mohamed, has said that the Cargo Tracking Note scheme will help ensure transparency in the maritime industry. The NPA chief made the clarification on the newly introduced Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) scheme over the weekend. He said that the objective of government introducing the scheme was to enhance the security of the maritime industry.Mr. Mohammed said that maritime nations felt it was necessary to obtain advance information on cargoes as well as the vessels and the personnel conveying them."This is just like the international maritime community, which came up with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISDS) code after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the U.S," he said. "There is need to track and have adequate information relating to cargo and ship movements"He also stated that the scheme will foster better information exchange between maritime agencies of other countries and those in Nigeria. "NPA had been discussing with the Shipping Agents of Nigeria (SAN), NACCIMA, MAN and others which had confidence in the CTN scheme. The scheme had actually taken off on Jan. 11, 2010 but a little grace period was given till the...

Shipping Lane Patrols Make Major Hit On Somali Pirates Operation Atalanta, the attempt by an EU joint force to restrict and eliminate pirate attacks has scored a major victory this week. The operation has two primary purposes, firstly to ensure the safe passage of vessels destined to bring aid on behalf of the World Food Programme (WFP) safely to those who need it in the African state and secondly to try and ensure no attacks take place on ordinary freight and container ships and particularly the many oil tankers whilst they transit the Gulf of Aden.After some successful escort details previously, the ESPS Navarra, completed accompanying the Indian Dhow Faize Sultane Kwhaha from Oman across to the port of Bosaaso in northern Somalia just last week, the dhow laden with WFP goods. Now a French frigate the Nivose reports she has seized 35 alleged pirates in just three days with an aggressive system of detection and pursuit operations. Staring on Friday four such operations were launched and by this morning and, in company with other EU Navfor vessels and an aircraft also on secondment and believed to be from the Armada Española Air Arm (Spanish Naval Air Service), plus supporting...

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